Hegemony of the honchos!

I felt terribly anguished by the plight of aspiring youngsters for admission to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management, who were denied entrance to the examination hall because they reported later then 10-30 hours, the “stipulated time” for reporting on Febraury 15th, 2004. But the stipulated time was half an hour ahead of of the actual start of the examination! It beats me as to what difference would it make so long as they report well before the start of the examination proper.

The “honchos” managing the examination were impervious, highly officious and unmoved by the emotional pleading by the students. They go by the “letter” of the rules! But the same guys were there last year when there was a large scale leak of question papers which necessitated this re-examination. Now the big guys are patting all over themselves with the claim that they have “successfully” conducted this examination – achived their success by preventing a dozen students entry into the hall!

There were also complaints that a few students who turned up a few minutes after the stipulated time were permitted inside, while others were not.

In Chennai – the only centre in the State – the Common Admission Test was held at five colleges: Anna Adarsh, Stella Maris, Meenakshi, Loyola and Raja Rajeshwari.

Some students attributed their coming late to the problems in parking the vehicles.

An engineering college student, with tears in his eyes lamented, “A five-minute delay on my part would now spoil my preparation of over a year-and-a-half. I have to do a lot of explaining to my mother, who lives in Bangalore. Every time I call her, the first question she asks me is: `Are you preparing for CAT?'”

A few of those denied entry broke down uncontrollably.

Some parents were not happy with the way the students were turned away. “They have lost a year and so much work is undone.